


We know not whither

by tetsubinatu



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-04
Updated: 2008-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:00:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tetsubinatu/pseuds/tetsubinatu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lupin thought that no-one knew what the Death Eaters had done to him, but the secret is out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What news?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for nepenth for Snupin Santa 2008
> 
> The title is, of course, from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
> 
> (Underage warning is for mention of past consensual relations between two minors)

At times, Severus felt as if the last year had been a bad dream - especially when the little buggers pranked the Gryffindors with dung-bombs and green hair, just as every generation of Hogwarts Slytherins had done since time immemorial. When he looked at the new first-years - blank slates who had never known him in his warped season as headmaster - sitting meekly behind their shining cauldrons, he could sometimes forget the sixth-and-seventh-years he had lost to the Great Deceiver and the residual ache in his veins from Nagini’s venom.

But now, halted at the library door by the whisper of ‘filthy werewolf’ from one of his third-years, he was all too aware that the speaker was Marcheson, whose father had been a minor death-eater, now in Azkaban, and his listeners were Anglsey and Carrow, whose parents might have been technically innocent, but whose uncles and aunts had fallen on Voldemort’s side. Severus cast an auditory enhancement spell and stayed very still.

“My mother says that he’ll be gone before Easter, him and his unnatural spawn. Children’s services won’t have any choice once they have it on record that he’s a child-killer. They’ll have to take the kid away from him, too.”

Anglsey’s back, which was all that Severus could see of him, was tense as he said tentatively, “He seems nice enough...” but Carrow just laughed.

“Defence against the Dark Arts my arse. He gives me the creeps with his ‘Carrow, I think you’ll find...’ and ‘Carrow, if you’ll check your textbook...’. Meek as butter and all the time he’d rip your throat out soon as look at you if he caught you alone.”

Severus must have stirred at that, because suddenly the children scattered into the stacks and were gone as swiftly as rabbits at the yelp of a hound.

* * *

 

Throughout the staff meeting after dinner, Severus thought about what he had heard. Lupin was sitting almost opposite him, hair even greyer than last time he held the post of DADA teacher, but his eyes bright with the freedom of knowing that one has fought the good fight and won. He must have left his son with a babysitter for the meeting - probably Potter’s lot, who were back this year to finish their NEWTs. As Severus watched, Lupin smiled at something Pomona had said, a true smile that transformed his face into someone ten years younger. Severus made up his mind.

After the meeting, there was coffee and cake, a bribe that Minerva had instituted to keep everyone at the meetings until the end. Severus usually ate a single slice of the coffee cake as a deliberate gesture of solidarity with his fellow teachers before at last decamping to the safe solitude of his rooms. In Albus’ day he had not seen the need for such gestures, but autre temps autre mores and his year as headmaster was quite a lump for the some of the other teachers to swallow, after all. He didn’t expect them to interact with him, though, opting to gaze out of the window until the last crumb of icing was gone.

Today, however, Severus took his coffee cake over to the corner where Filius was chatting with Lupin. “There’s a plot against you,” he said abruptly, his gaze resting uneasily upon Lupin’s left ear.

“What sort of plot?” Lupin replied calmly, craning his head a little to bring his face into Severus’ line of sight, damn his impudence. Severus focussed instead on the man’s long, straight nose.

“Someone is reporting you to Children’s Services as a child-killer. The rumour is that this will lead to your sacking and your son being removed from your care.”

“I see,” said Lupin, but his face had whitened noticeably and the even tenor of his voice did not cover the tremble in his hands around his teacup.

“I thought you should know,” Severus said. Could he leave now? Was it socially acceptable to drop a bombshell on a colleague and walk away? Probably not.

Filius was squeaking indignantly about persecution but Severus couldn’t really hear him. “Er, I’ll let you know if I hear anything else...” he added, and fled the scene with gratitude for a good parting line, not that he actually expected to hear anything more on the issue. He’d done what he could. No-one could expect more, surely.

Except, of course, that they could. Little more than an hour later his rooms were host to a gathering including Lupin, Minerva, Filius - whose curiosity once roused was a byword - and the Gryffindor trio, who had hunted Lupin down when he failed to arrive to collect his son. Such an invasion was unprecedented and, stripped of his protective Death Eater persona, Severus had no idea how to repel it. He would have settled for sulking quietly and speaking when spoken to, but as he was the source of information he was reluctantly forced to converse with his unwanted guests

Severus refused to supply the names of his informants, but did say that they were students who were related to death-eaters. The question he longed to ask, but didn’t quite dare in such mixed company, was why Lupin had not protested the designation of child-killer. When and why had Lupin killed a child?

As the gathering gabbled ineffectively, and the house elves served cake to those who had not already sated themselves at the staff meeting, Severus watched and wondered. His only independent contribution was a suggestion that Lupin should consider emigrating without delay, but a proposal he had thought of as eminently practical was barely considered before being rejected by the rest of the group.

“Why should he have to go anywhere?” Potter demanded. “He’s a hero and he has an Order of Merlin to prove it.”

Granger appeared to have a better grasp of the practicalities. “We can keep that as a fall-back position,” she said briskly, “but I do think we can do better than that. There aren’t a lot of countries where werewolves aren’t persecuted, and at least in Britain his hero status and Order of Merlin count for something. Anywhere else he’s just another foreign werewolf.”

She looked apologetically at Lupin, who waved a hand vaguely to indicate that he hadn’t taken offence at the blunt statement.

“The rules are quite clear,” he said slowly. “I familiarised myself with the relevant legislation when it looked as if Andromeda might want custody of Teddy. A person who is a werewolf AND who is known to have committed a major crime MAY NOT have sole custody of a minor. No loopholes. I am a werewolf, as everyone knows, so if I am known to have committed a major crime as defined by the legislation then Child Services is required to take Teddy away from me.”

Minerva craned forward. “What if you shared custody with Andromeda?” she asked.

“Andromeda and I are not currently able to share a room, much less custody,” Remus said grimly. “She blames me for Dora’s death, and will never, ever forgive me for coming back to life when her daughter didn’t. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were the one behind the action except that Tonks made her promise never to speak of what happened. She wouldn’t break that promise - not even to gain custody of Teddy. On the other hand if Child Services comes knocking on her door she’ll take him in a heartbeat.”

Everyone looked over at the sleeping child, curled up in a cot that Minerva had transfigured from Severus’ coat rack, to his unspoken annoyance. The baby’s soft, slow breathing was the only sound in the room for a heartbeat before the discussion resumed.

“Would it be so bad if she raised him?” Severus wondered aloud. Ron’s face eloquently expressed unspoken agreement with him, but the rest of those present looked shocked at the suggestion.

“I’d never see him again,” Remus said simply, “and Andromeda would bring him up to consider me a shameful disgrace.

“Although,” he added reluctantly, “she wouldn’t mistreat him. She would love him in her own way. Worse things could happen to a child.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Granger said with earnest fervour. “We can figure this out.”

Harry’s eyes were thoughtful. “Anyway, I’m his godfather. Shouldn’t custody come to me? Not that it will come to that,” he added swiftly.

When they finally left, over an hour of fruitless speculation later, they had agreed to meet back in Severus’ rooms the following evening after dinner. Remus tried to suggest his own rooms, but Minerva over-rode his protests, ignoring Severus’ faintly alarmed look.

Filius was the last to leave, thanking Severus politely for his hospitality. “You know why we’re meeting back here tomorrow don’t you?” he asked mischievously. Severus’ face reflected his complete lack of comprehension as well as his annoyance.

“Minerva knows you wouldn’t turn up if it were anywhere else!” Filius chirped. He grinned at Severus and closed the door behind him, leaving the potions master to wonder if he would ever find himself free of manipulative Gryffindors and intrusive Ravenclaws.

* * *

 

The following morning Severus had the opportunity when he encountered Lupin near the lake to ask him about the crime he had committed.

Lupin gaped down at Severus in an unattractive manner. “Oh - you didn’t know?” he mumbled.

“If I knew I would not be asking.”

“No, of course not. Alright.” Lupin flushed and turned aside from the path, seeming to expect Severus to accompany him. They stopped in a small glade overlooking the shallow back reaches of the lake and Lupin perched on a warm boulder, gesturing to Severus to join him. It didn’t look comfortable, but as he settled into the seat its warmth was soothing.

“I suppose, circumstances being as they were, you were a bit cut off from things,” Lupin began. “I was actually captured in Liverpool about three months before the end of the war.”

“By whom?” Severus asked. The water glinted silver at their feet, and an owl came gliding across it towards the castle from Hogsmead. From behind them came the faint sounds of a good-natured pick-up quiddich match. Lupin picked up a pebble and threw it into the lake.

“Minor players. Marcheson, Bilke, Ingersson. They knew I was a werewolf but they didn’t know exactly who I was. I don’t think it ever occurred to them that it might matter actually - I was just some random werewolf scum; a tool for them to threaten others with.”

Severus nodded in understanding.

“They didn’t tell me what was going on, of course, but I overheard snippets. A man named Dodsworthy was resisting joining the Death Eaters.”

Severus closed his eyes, suddenly feeling nauseated. He was glad he hadn’t touched the kippers for breakfast. “I know what happened to Dodsworthy’s family,” he said thickly.

Remus threw another stone, which landed in the water with a splash. “Well, there you are. After the wolf...” He paused, swallowing, “After I killed them I must have broken out of the house and escaped. After moonset I found myself in a park, naked, wandless and covered in blood. I could only assume that I had done as my handlers requested.

“Later I was able to confirm that the Dodsworthys had all been killed by a werewolf, so I don’t think there’s much doubt about what happened.”

“All but Archimedes,” Severus said softly.

Remus turned his head from the tranquil scene before him to gaze blindly in Severus’ direction. “He died the same day, as I understand. The reports were unclear as to whether it was suicide.”

Severus was irritated to feel a certain amount of sympathy for the werewolf. He was a warm-hearted creature and this situation must have been intolerable for him. “It was suicide in any case,” he said roughly. “He should have left as soon as his family was threatened.”

Remus had folded his long limbs in on himself, holding his knees to his chest, head tucked down into them. His harsh breathing was the only sound in the clearing and when he looked up his face was blank, but for his agonised eyes. “It’s been so long. I didn’t think anyone knew. Well - Minerva, Poppy and Dora did, because I called Dora to come and get me and Minerva organised for Poppy to help me. We were living with Andromeda, so she knew too.

“Order members must have known that I had been captured and the timing of my escape, I suppose. But no-one ever said anything and I thought... well, I just tried to forget it.”

“You were injured?” Severus had kept an ear to the ground for captured Order members of course, but he really had been quite busy at the time just keeping the Carrows from exercising their most destructive tendencies upon the students.

“Well, Death Eaters you know. They didn’t really bother much with me but there was a bit of ... sport... involved. And I don’t think they fed me, although I remember a bucket of water.”

Severus could imagine. He’d seen such sport before.

“ I think Marcheson told his wife,” he said. “She’s made the connection now, in any case.”

Remus nodded, still curled in on himself. “Marcheson,” he said slowly. “He has a son, doesn’t he? Third year?”

Severus’ face was closed. “Yes.”

“I won’t take it out on the boy, Severus,” Remus assured him.

Severus knew that. For a Marauder, Lupin had an underdeveloped sense of revenge. “Don’t tell Minerva, if you can help it,” he asked, eyes fixed on the lanky figure beside him.

“I’ll try,” Lupin said. “But if Mrs Marcheson is behind it Minerva will probably find out.” His back had straightened a little at the request and he dropped his feet back to the leaf-strewn soil at his feet.

“I just... wish these things didn’t get passed from generation to generation,” Severus said wistfully.

“Amen,” came the heartfelt response from his companion. For a moment the two figures silhouetted against the lake were in complete accord.


	2. Did you really?

“There are two ways to tackle the accusation,” Severus began at that night’s meeting. “By denial or by providing exculpatory reasons for your actions.”

“I did it,” said Remus softly.

“Let me make this clear to you, Remus,” Minerva said sharply, “You are not guilty of anything in this matter. You were used as a tool. Almost anyone can be used likewise in some manner. Remember what Sandford did under Imperius?”

Remus shuddered.

“Do you blame Sandford?”

Remus shook his head but the sullen look remained on his face.

Harry leaned forward. “Wh...what did you do, Remus?”

Remus took a deep breath, but Severus interrupted. “He was captured by Death Eaters and deliberately imprisoned at full moon with some humans. Although he managed to escape, the other people were killed by his werewolf form.”

Remus looked uncertainly at him, and Minerva with approval. “Indeed, Mr Potter, that is the gist of it. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to distress Remus by asking for the details,” she said firmly.

“No!” Harry exclaimed. “Remus knows I trust him. Don’t you?” he added, turning to Remus.

Remus’ smile was small, but sincere. “Thank you, Harry. I hope you can continue to trust me after what you heard.”

Hermione interrupted, “Professor McGonagall is right, Remus. It wasn’t your fault.” Ron murmured support and Remus smiled at them both, seeming to draw strength from their faith in him.

“The question is, how much proof do they have that it was you? Do we have plausible deniability?” Severus continued. “Because however blameless Lupin is, it will be far better for him if people don’t associate him with the murder of innocents. On the other hand, if he denies that he was the instrument of murder and they prove it, it will look worse than if he admits it up front.”

Minerva frowned. “Remus was living quite quietly with Tonks at the time at her parents’ house and I don’t think that we even had an Order meeting during the few days that he was missing. He had gone to Liverpool to meet with a couple of unaffiliated werewolves and we were not surprised that he might take a few days to gain their trust, even stay with them for the full moon. Tonks hadn’t even begun to worry when he called to ask her to come and get him.

“Patronus?” Hermione nodded intelligently.

Remus shook his head. “Muggle phone. I was naked in a public park in the middle of London! Luckily there was a lake - a bloody cold one, I might add - so I cleaned myself up so that I was superficially OK and waited for someone to call the cops, then gave them Andromeda and Ted’s number. I’m just lucky Andromeda kept the phone on after Ted was gone.” His face lightened at a sudden memory.

“Dora came and got me, and the police thought it was funny: I’d told them my condition was due to a bucks party, so when a heavily pregnant girl came to collect me... well! They told me the wedding was clearly none too soon.”

The youngsters guffawed and even Filius and Minerva had to smile.

Further discussion led the group to think that there was a reasonable chance that they could get away with denying that the werewolf in the case was Remus, provided that Veritaserum was not used.

“Do they have your wand?” Ron suddenly asked. Remus compressed his lips into a tight line, then nodded. “Right, then any story we come up with has to account for that. Will Tonks' mum stand by you if they ask her directly?”

Remus sighed. “I don’t know.”

Flitwick spoke up. “I will speak to her,” he volunteered. “Any public backlash would be bad for Teddy. She will see that. She was always a very intelligent girl.”

The meeting broke up with a feeling of optimism.

* * *

 

Monday morning post brought an official letter. Severus caught a glimpse of Remus’ ashen face as he opened it. Minerva and Flitwick clearly also noticed, each taking a moment to stop beside Remus for a quiet word of support before leaving the table. Severus was surprised to find that his stomach was churning so that he didn’t feel like finishing his porridge. He had thought those days were gone with Voldemort. Poppy had been thrilled at the amount of weight Severus had gained since Potter’s victory, even if Severus himself was beginning to wonder if he was becoming portly. He had had to loosen all his waistbands by two inches.

He stopped beside Remus a moment, but the only thing he could think of to say was, “I’ll see you later, Lupin.” Remus nodded, still looking at his plate and Severus left for his first class.

* * *

 

A hearing had been scheduled to be held on the Friday of the following week at the ministry. Minerva reagarded her DADA teacher with serious eyes.

“They haven’t exactly been specific,” Filius commented, examining the letter. “ ‘A serious matter regarding your suitability to associate on an ongoing basis with minors.’ I don’t like the venue, though. And I especially don’t like the requirement to bring Teddy.”

“You need a lawyer.” Hermione said firmly.

Harry started. His eyes were wide with an old fear. “Yes! Remus - we’ll get you a lawyer immediately.”

“I’ll be fine, Harry, Hermione,” Remus said soothingly. “There’s no need to go to the trouble of getting a lawyer before we even know for sure what is going on!”

Harry put an arm out, resting his hand on Remus’ shoulder. His gaze was focussed and intent, forcing Remus to return it, and there was a ring of authority in his voice that struck a strange note in Severus’ subconscious. “Remus. Please let me hire a lawyer on your behalf. I don’t want custody of my godson one minute before necessary - preferably never.”

Remus’ jaw dropped a little. “It’s expensive and unnecessary,” he persevered, but Harry didn’t move his hand and his gaze didn’t falter. Remus gave way before it.

“I still think it’s unnecessary,” he said, “but if you feel that strongly about it I won’t argue.” His face softened as he looked at Potter. “Thank you, Harry. Don’t worry; it will be fine.”

Severus didn’t think he had ever seen Potter touch anyone apart from his two friends voluntarily before, still less muster the calm authority with which he had persuaded Lupin. For a moment a surge of bitter bile rose in him. The boy had never resembled his father more. Once again a Potter was taking care of Lupin. What did that werewolf do to deserve such coddling? For a moment he almost wished he had never mentioned the matter to Lupin at all; had let him be taken unawares and stripped of everything he valued... No dammit, he couldn’t have done that.

“Very well, if that is settled then may I recommend my own lawyers, Sutton & Sutton?” he said coldly. “They did excellent work on my own behalf and their bill was reasonable - for a lawyer.”

Harry shrugged, as if such details were not his concern, and it was quickly agreed that Severus and Lupin would contact Sutton & Sutton immediately and ask them to take the case.

* * *

 

The following afternoon found Rolanda roped in to take DADA lessons while Pomona was filling in for Severus in Potions. Neither Severus nor Remus was entirely happy with the situation, but as Severus griped when they were alone, at least Rolanda would just give the DADA students practice in defensive flying tactics, whereas who knew what Pomona would do to his Potions lab?

Sutton and Sutton were located in Lieg Alley, handy to both Gringotts and the Ministry. Ernest Sutton had agreed in an exchange of early-morning letters to take the case and Severus had advised Lupin to confide absolutely in him. “He needs to know the truth, so that he can know what areas are possible weaknesses,” he said, knowing Lupin’s fatal propensity to put being likable ahead of good sense. The werewolf had nodded, but Severus privately thought that Minerva had sent him along to stiffen Lupin’s resolve if necessary.

As the story came out, bit by bit, Sutton made sympathetic noises and pressed chocolate biscuits on his client. Severus eyed these with a jaundiced eye - his own meetings had been far less sociable - but he concluded that the lawyer had an eye for his clients’ individual preferences. Certainly Lupin responded to sympathy, whereas Severus preferred his legal services to be provided in a more impersonal fashion. Severus leaned back in his chair to watch as Sutton professionally extracted every aspect of Lupin’s situation. It was interesting to note that many of Sutton’s techniques were only a twist and a grimace away from techniques Lucius used, yet in Sutton’s hands they appeared soothing and well-intentioned.

When they finally left, Lupin had a list of matters to deal with before meeting back with the lawyer on Thursday morning for a progress report. “Oh, and send the bill to Potter,” Severus added as they were being solicitously escorted to the door.

Sutton craned his head curiously. “Harry Potter?”

Remus started to protest, but Severus just rolled his eyes. “Yes; Harry Potter. He’s paying.”

* * *

 

Unfortunately, only twentyfour hours later Sutton and Sutton sent an urgent owl requesting a further meeting. Somehow - neither Remus nor Severus enquired as to the means - they had ascertained that the Ministry had obtained a photograph of Remus at the Dodsworthy property on the night in question.

“Before or... after?” Severus enquired delicately, but Sutton didn’t know. In any case, denial was no longer an option.

Ernest Sutton viewed his client with grave sympathy and suggested that he marry before the hearing. “Given the support of the Headmistress, I have every expectation of preserving your position at Hogwarts, Mr Lupin,” he said, “But unless you are married you have no reasonable prospect of retaining custody of your son. The law admits of no other exceptions or loopholes, and I suggest that you take advantage of that one exception in the time available to you.”

His sharp face tightened at the look of despair on his client’s face as he added, “And may I suggest also making use of your contacts to get a sympathetic version of your story into the papers? It will be no use preserving your job if you lose it under the weight of public opinion.”

Back in Remus’ rooms, Severus poured two generous whisky-and-sodas from the sideboard and sank into the armchair opposite the sunken figure of the werewolf, placing the drinks between them on the low table.

Lupin’s head was in his hands. “I can’t... it’s ridiculous! Dora’s scarcely cold in her grave... They can’t seriously expect me to find someone to bond with in a week’s time.”

Severus took a solid gulp of his drink and shifted uneasily in his armchair. “If you don’t then you’ll lose Teddy,” he reminded the man.

“Might lose Teddy,” Remus quibbled, his tone as despairing as his words were optimistic.

“Is it a risk you’re prepared to take?”

Remus looked up at his companion and reached for his own drink. His answer was sharp and exasperated. “Just think about it logically, Severus! I don’t have anyone to ask. Who would I ask? My friends are children and seniors - and you. Would you marry me? You’d be my best shot.”

Severus pursed his lips and rose from his chair. “Deliberate rudeness is something I would have expected from Potter and Black, not you,” he remarked in a tone that could have frozen a polar bear. Inside him, something twanged with pain. For an instant he had absorbed only the warmth of Lupin calling him a friend, and then in the next breath Lupin had mocked him mercilessly. He should have let the bastard rot!

“See!” Remus called after him as he moved towards the door. “You wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole. I’ve always known that.”

A puzzled expression crossed Severus’ face. He stopped and turned to face the seated man. “What...?”

Remus stood up and walked across to him. Leaning down, he placed one steadying hand on Severus’ shoulder, then swiftly bussed his parted lips. His breath was warm and chocolatey from all those damn biscuits of Sutton’s. Sweet.

Severus’ lips tingled where he had been kissed. He rubbed them together briefly, his brow still furrowed with confusion. “You go too far,” he said faintly. “You are surely not going to try to convince me that you have some kind of... affection for me? I know you’re desperate, but...”

Remus smiled grimly. “I have wanted you for twenty years, Severus, but when would I have told you? You hated my friends and my friends hated you. Then I nearly killed you and ruined any chance I might ever have had, even if I hadn’t been so painfully aware of being a dark creature.”

Severus flushed as Remus continued, counting off the details on his fingers, “You were a Death Eater when I was with the Order, and when I came back to Hogwarts four years ago you were convinced that I was in league with a murderer. Then I tried to kill you again - and this time it was all my own fault.”

Severus’ mouth compressed, but he didn’t say anything.

“Then you outed me to the world as a werewolf - what was I supposed to say? ‘Thanks Severus! You’ve just ruined what little life I have and by the way I find you sexy as hell’?

“It was almost a relief when we thought you were a traitor - I wasn’t all that fond of you at that time, I admit. And when it was proved that you weren’t , I was burying my wife and preparing to contest custody with my mother-in-law. In any case, you had made your dislike of ‘beasts’ quite clear enough over the years.

“This past fortnight is the first time I have ever thought that you might not spit in my face if I told you that, unlikely as it seems, I have been attracted to you since we were fourteen years old and you took Ernestine Dimworthy to the ball. You really are an excellent dancer, Severus. I was desperately envious of Ernestine - and even more envious of Carruthers.”

Severus stared at him. Over half a lifetime ago he had indeed taken Ernestine Dimworthy to the ball - and after escorting her back to the dormitory, to be rewarded with a bloodless kiss, he had allowed Joseph Carruthers to fuck him in a storage cupboard. His first fuck, although he and Carruthers had been fooling around for longer than that.

“There was never a whisper about Carruthers and me,” he said doubtfully, his mind whirling with images of long ago.

Remus quirked his mouth sideways ruefully. “I didn’t tell. When you took up with Ainsworthy, though, I did console Joe on the quiet.”

Severus considered this new information. Carruthers hadn’t spoken with him for a term and a half after they broke up, but after that they had re-established a friendship based on pranking the Marauders, and Remus in particular.

“I assume it didn’t end well?” he smirked, remembering one particular prank which left Remus with pink sparkly hair strewn with tiny white flowerets. Every time the hex had been reversed, the hair would revert to its floral state within a matter of hours, and the finishing touch had been the sickly scent of sweet violets the flowers emitted, which had attracted hordes of bees at that season. Remus wasn’t the only Marauder who had been stung in the fortnight before that spell wore off.

“You assume correctly,” Remus said, a light in his eyes that made Severus suddenly wary.

“Oh no!” he said, backing away. “I’m not going to marry you, Lupin. You’ll have to find someone else.”

For a moment the bleakness reappeared in Lupin’s eyes. “Who?”

“I’ll... give it some thought,” Severus said hastily, and backing out of the doorway he fled to his rooms.

end of chapter 2

CHAPTER 3  
Will You?

 

After a night spent dreaming of the people he had known when he was fourteen, Severus was up early to send an owl to Berlin.

‘Dear Carruthers, I hope this letter finds you well. I have reason to believe that during the period in fourth year when we were not speaking you spent time with Lupin. Please confirm or deny as soon as possible. Yours sincerely, Snape’

The reply came within twentyfour hours, finding Severus at breakfast.

‘Dear Severus, I’m very happily settled here with Erich, thank you for asking. Lupin finally confessed his crush on you, did he? Hell’s bells - that’s got to be a record. Yes, we got together after you dumped me but the fellow’s an irredeemable top. Might suit you, though. Love Joe’

Severus blinked. Unless Lupin had persuaded Carruthers to lie... but surely that was far too baroque a plot for Lupin. No, the man really had had a crush on him at fourteen. And really had slept with Carruthers.

Unexpectedly, a vision of what Lupin might be like in bed assailed him. He wouldn’t have expected the quietest Marauder to be such a top as Carruthers had described, but if he was... if Lupin let out all his pent-up passion and power in bed... A wave of desire shot though him at the thought, and he strove to conceal his quickened breathing and heartbeat from his neighbour, who happened to be Minerva.

“Bad news, Severus?” the nosy old bat enquired.

“No,” he murmured, carefully folding the letter and slipping it into his pocket. “I don’t think so.” He spooned a little more honey onto his porridge just to gall her Scottish heart, and let his gaze slip sideways to where Lupin normally sat. The seat was empty today, however.

“Meeting at nine tonight,” Minerva said quietly.

“Not in my rooms,” Severus protested, but in vain.

“The house elves will take care of the arrangements,” she assured him, and left as he sputtered porridge at her. Sometimes she was as aggravating as the old coot had been.

* * *

 

Severus found the new light in Lupin’s eyes when he looked at him disconcerting, but also a little flattering and arousing. He had not been openly desired so often in his life that he could ignore it easily. In fact his adult sex-life had been rather put on hold during his years as a resident teacher. In the holidays he was able to visit Muggle clubs, finding that there was a certain stratum of clubbers who found his ‘gothic’ gloom attractive. The younger ones tended to be pretty but awfully boring if one had to listen to them for too long. The older ones varied between so dreadful that it was no wonder they didn’t have a regular partner, those currently between partners and those cheating on their partners. Since Severus was not in the market for a permanent liaison or likely to choose a Muggle if he were, summer flings tended to be brief, if sweet.

And then Voldemort had returned and what sex-life Severus had cultivated stopped dead. It was no wonder that he had been perpetually on edge during those years, he thought, balanced on a knife-edge of discovery, doing the work of two men and throwing back Pepper-Up and Dreamless Sleep with reckless abandon. If there was one thing positive his short time in Azkaban had done it was to break his potions habit, although at the time it hadn’t been much fun, arching and vomitting into the mouldy straw, which would be left unchanged for days.

No surprise, then, that he was better tempered these days - even with the Scottish harridan in charge - one job, no contact with Dark Lords and no need for addictive potions. And at any moment, Severus thought, he might decide to resume a sex life too. Realising that he was staring at Lupin, who was giving him a complicit grin in return, Severus flushed, but Lupin clearly thought that he had been given some sort of signal, because he lingered until last as the meeting broke up.

“Can I interest you in another kiss?” he enquired demurely as Severus determinedly fetched him his scarf from the coat-rack. Severus flushed again, and that moment of indecision cost him the initiative as Lupin pressed him against the closed door and seemed to settle in for the long haul. Lupin’s mouth was lush and eager, the long length of his frame warm, muscled and slightly bony. As his hips slid into position, cradling their two cocks together, Severus gasped, and received a demanding tongue between his lips.

It was as if he had known that it would be like this with Lupin. The taste of his mouth was familiar, the feel of him pressing so close unutterably right. Severus did not think that he had ever until these past few days consciously thought of Lupin as a sexual being, and yet the curve of his spine under Severus’ fingers was something he seemed to know by instinct. Every cell in Severus’ spine and cock was alive and sparking as their hips ground together, still divided by multiple layers of fabric.

“Let me...” Lupin gasped, inserting a hand between them, and Severus yielded, pulling his hips back a little to allow the groping hand to open his robes and grasp the veined column thus revealed. Severus sagged a little against the wall as his cock was firmly clasped and wanked. For a moment he gave himself up to the mindless pleasure of that experienced hand, but he wanted more.

“Wait!” he groaned. Lupin went rigid against him, breathing heavily, but seemed to soften and tremble as Severus fumbled with his Muggle trousers until they tumbled to his knees. Taking a firm grip Severus moved his hand up and down, and suddenly they were moving together, both sets of hands working furiously, Lupin’s mouth ravaging Severus’ with licks and bites and greedy tongue.

Lupin’s bare buttocks flexed as he drove his groin deeper into Severus’ greedy palms. There was a flash of fire along Severus’ spine as he arched into Lupin’s large, calloused hands and jets of cum shot out between them, and then Lupin was spasming into Severus’ grasp, his head falling onto one black-clad shoulder as his body shook and juddered its release against Severus’ belly.

For a long moment they stayed like that, their breathing slowing, their hands dropping to rest on convenient hips and thighs. Severus felt as if his brains had spurted out with his cum, fuzzy and lightheaded. His mouth was full of the taste of Lupin, and his body was a sea of sated pleasure.

Lupin pressed a rueful forehead hard into Severus’ collarbone before straightening up, pausing to lick gently across Severus’ bitten lips before ascending to his full height.

“I didn’t actually mean, this soon... but we’re good together, aren’t we?” he said incoherently.

Severus glared at him. “Pull up your pants and get out,” he said, but his voice did not hold the venom that it once had, and Lupin didn’t seem daunted. He tugged at his corduroys, pulling out his wand from a side pocket to clean himself up. “Lucky I didn’t blow off a buttock,” he muttered with a grin. Severus checked an impulse to smile back, turning his head instead to carefully examine his own clothes as he cleaned them. Satisfuied, he strode to the door, opening it wide for Lupin to leave.

“Out.”

“Thank you for your generous hospitality, Severus,” the other man replied politely, the puffy redness of his mouth radiating smugness. He stopped at the door and pressed a hasty kiss to Severus’ cheek before slipping out into the corridor. Severus sniffed resentfully, but when he fell asleep that night his hand was cupped around that cheek. A handjob was a handjob, after all, but a kiss on the cheek was... something different.

* * *

 

Severus wasn’t altogether surprised when Lupin knocked on his door the following night. However unorthodox this... courtship... was, it was undeniably under considerable time pressure. As he wanked that morning in the shower, he had wondered why he was even considering a bizarre notion that had never even crossed the horizon of possibility a week ago. For, undeniably, he was considering it.

Severus Snape was seriously considering bonding with a werewolf in order to have joint custody of that werewolf’s infant son. A son who was cousin to Sirius Black. A son who was godson to James Potter’s son.

When he put it in those terms he could not understand why the notion was so persistent. But his mind slipped easily into the memory of how right Lupin had felt pressed close against him, how he had groaned into Severus’ shoulder as he came in his hands. How swollen his lips had been as he left that soft, chaste kiss on Severus’ cheek.

Severus had come hard and fast at the memories, and then rested against the wall under the warm spray as his cum washed away, wondering what it would be like to have Remus Lupin in a bed.

All day the memories of that brief encounter against the wall haunted him, as benign, sensual flashbacks. He wanked twice in the loo, like a sixteen-year-old, recalling Remus’ scent, his hands, the feel of his eager cock. Knowing that Remus wasn’t finished with him yet.

He opened his door with a mixture of anticipation and annoyance. Remus had brought wine.

“What, no flowers?” Severus mocked.

“I don’t want thorns in the bed.”

Severus blinked. Apparently Carruthers hadn’t mentioned the half of it. “Carruthers said you were an ‘irredeemable top’,” he murmured bemusedly.

“You checked?” Remus began to chuckle. “Yes; that was a bone of contention between us, but he described you as having ‘a greedy arse’, so I didn’t think it would be a problem between us.”

Severus narrowed his eyes. “Come on then,” he said. “The bedroom’s this way.”

* * *

 

One good thing about house-elves: the sheets were always clean. As Severus groaned under Lupin’s expert attentions his sheets smelled, as always, of lavender. It was oldfashioned, but he loved the smell. His mother had always dried her sheets over the lavender bushes in their tiny yard. Tonight, however, the scent of lavender was overlain with the scents Severus had come to associate with Lupin: burgundy, ink, dusty books and an orange top note that Severus knew meant that Lupin had washed his hair earlier in the day. And desire. Severus could definitely smell desire.

Lupin’s hands were actually trembling as he peeled Severus’ shirt and trousers off. Perhaps he was just scared that he might muck this seduction up and lose his chance at persuading Severus to marry him. Perhaps.

But as he looked at Lupin’s dilated pupils Severus knew that he was truly desired. Lupin wasn’t a Slytherin. Severus knew of half a dozen potions that would counterfeit the symptoms of desire the werewolf was showing, but he also knew, deep in his bones, that Lupin had used none of them; he was trembling with the sheer anticipation of fucking Severus, and Severus felt himself responding to that purity of feeling. As Lupin’s large hands slipped reverently over the planes of his body, Severus arched into them, and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and a muttered curse.

“Fuck, Severus. You’re so...” Apparently bereft of words, Lupin bent to trace the line of Severus’ collarbone with his tongue. His hands slid naturally to anchor Severus’ hips as he traced a trail which stopped briefly to toy with each nipple before following the midline down the chest to the treasure at the end of the trail. Hot breath surrounded Severus’ aching cock, teasing it until Lupin’s full, sensuous lips closed around the head. Severus let his hands fall into the rich warmth of Remus’ hair, twining his fingers in its softness and then clutching it as Lupin used all his skill and attention to please Severus.

“Don’t!” Severus groaned, and Lupin immediately stopped. He rested his head on Severus’ pale thigh, gasping “Don’t what?”

“Don’t finish me. I want to come with you inside.” Severus rolled over, positioning himself on his hands and knees as he preferred.

Both men groaned as Lupin’s oiled brown fingers slipped, one by one, into Severus’ long-neglected arse. Severus was shivering as finally Lupin withdrew his fingers to replace them with the solid length of his cock. One long, relentless glide was enough to fill him. Severus wondered how he had lived for so long without this. Perhaps anyone would do. Perhaps he was being foolish in attributing his wonder to Lupin, rather than to long abstinence. But... oh God... Lupin was moving, and all coherent thought fled in the face of the joy that Severus felt as he was as thoroughly pleasured as any man could ever have been.

As Lupin’s hips began to lose their rhythm in preparation for their final assault upon his arse, Severus reached a hand down to tug on his cock. Once, twice, and he was stuttering come into his abused sheets, and then Lupin was whimpering in his ear, his hipbones cushioned by Severus’ crushed buttocks as he filled Severus’ parched channel with his warm seed.

They fell sideways, still joined, Lupin’s arms coiling possessively over his smaller bedmate as they lay spooned together, their breathing slowing until silence replaced the sounds of uninhibited fucking.

“Are you going to marry me, Severus?” Lupin said softly into the silence, and Severus answered, as he had known he inevitably would, “Very well, Lupin. You fuck like an angel and I’ll marry you.”

He wished he could see Lupin’s face. The werewolf’s arms clutched him closer and Severus felt him gulp before saying huskily into his hair, “Thankyou Severus. Thankyou. You’ll never have cause to regret it, I promise.”

end of chapter 3

CODA  
Was it well done?

 

Years later, Severus would wonder how he had found the courage to take that leap into the unknown with the last of his boyhood rivals. Had it been Carruthers’ encouragement, that unexpected friendly push from a man he hadn’t seen for twenty years? Had it been Remus’ undeniable skill in bed, or the desperation in his eyes as he courted Severus’ scorn? Had there been an element of sadism in the anticipated pleasure of pissing off Harry and striking Minerva speechless? Or the simple pleasure of knowing that he was thoroughly confounding everyone’s expectations?

He was just glad that he had done it.

Harry might have paid for the lawyers, and Hermione and Luna might have orchestrated the publicity to draw sympathy for Remus’ plight; Minerva might have stood staunchly by her DADA teacher and Ernest Sutton have saved his legal bacon, but Severus was the one Remus credited with saving his family, and Severus was the one who slept every night in his king-sized bed with his devoted husband.

Severus was the one living happily ever after.

And it was surprisingly satisfying to raise a son, too. Even if he did turn out to be a Ravenclaw.

finis


	3. Will you?

After a night spent dreaming of the people he had known when he was fourteen, Severus was up early to send an owl to Berlin.

 _‘Dear Carruthers, I hope this letter finds you well. I have reason to believe that during the period in fourth year when we were not speaking you spent time with Lupin. Please confirm or deny as soon as possible. Yours sincerely, Snape’_

The reply came within twentyfour hours, finding Severus at breakfast.

 _‘Dear Severus, I’m very happily settled here with Erich, thank you for asking. Lupin finally confessed his crush on you, did he? Hell’s bells - that’s got to be a record. Yes, we got together after you dumped me but the fellow’s an irredeemable top. Might suit you, though. Love Joe’_

Severus blinked. Unless Lupin had persuaded Carruthers to lie... but surely that was far too baroque a plot for Lupin. No, the man really had had a crush on him at fourteen. And really had slept with Carruthers.

Unexpectedly, a vision of what Lupin might be like in bed assailed him. He wouldn’t have expected the quietest Marauder to be such a top as Carruthers had described, but if he was... if Lupin let out all his pent-up passion and power in bed... A wave of desire shot though him at the thought, and he strove to conceal his quickened breathing and heartbeat from his neighbour, who happened to be Minerva.

“Bad news, Severus?” the nosy old bat enquired.

“No,” he murmured, carefully folding the letter and slipping it into his pocket. “I don’t think so.” He spooned a little more honey onto his porridge just to gall her Scottish heart, and let his gaze slip sideways to where Lupin normally sat. The seat was empty today, however.

“Meeting at nine tonight,” Minerva said quietly.

“Not in my rooms,” Severus protested, but in vain.

“The house elves will take care of the arrangements,” she assured him, and left as he sputtered porridge at her. Sometimes she was as aggravating as the old coot had been.

* * *

 

Severus found the new light in Lupin’s eyes when he looked at him disconcerting, but also a little flattering and arousing. He had not been openly desired so often in his life that he could ignore it easily. In fact his adult sex-life had been rather put on hold during his years as a resident teacher. In the holidays he was able to visit Muggle clubs, finding that there was a certain stratum of clubbers who found his ‘gothic’ gloom attractive. The younger ones tended to be pretty but awfully boring if one had to listen to them for too long. The older ones varied between so dreadful that it was no wonder they didn’t have a regular partner, those currently between partners and those cheating on their partners. Since Severus was not in the market for a permanent liaison or likely to choose a Muggle if he were, summer flings tended to be brief, if sweet.

And then Voldemort had returned and what sex-life Severus had cultivated stopped dead. It was no wonder that he had been perpetually on edge during those years, he thought, balanced on a knife-edge of discovery, doing the work of two men and throwing back Pepper-Up and Dreamless Sleep with reckless abandon. If there was one thing positive his short time in Azkaban had done it was to break his potions habit, although at the time it hadn’t been much fun, arching and vomitting into the mouldy straw, which would be left unchanged for days.

No surprise, then, that he was better tempered these days - even with the Scottish harridan in charge - one job, no contact with Dark Lords and no need for addictive potions. And at any moment, Severus thought, he might decide to resume a sex life too. Realising that he was staring at Lupin, who was giving him a complicit grin in return, Severus flushed, but Lupin clearly thought that he had been given some sort of signal, because he lingered until last as the meeting broke up.

“Can I interest you in another kiss?” he enquired demurely as Severus determinedly fetched him his scarf from the coat-rack. Severus flushed again, and that moment of indecision cost him the initiative as Lupin pressed him against the closed door and seemed to settle in for the long haul. Lupin’s mouth was lush and eager, the long length of his frame warm, muscled and slightly bony. As his hips slid into position, cradling their two cocks together, Severus gasped, and received a demanding tongue between his lips.

It was as if he had known that it would be like this with Lupin. The taste of his mouth was familiar, the feel of him pressing so close unutterably right. Severus did not think that he had ever until these past few days consciously thought of Lupin as a sexual being, and yet the curve of his spine under Severus’ fingers was something he seemed to know by instinct. Every cell in Severus’ spine and cock was alive and sparking as their hips ground together, still divided by multiple layers of fabric.

“Let me...” Lupin gasped, inserting a hand between them, and Severus yielded, pulling his hips back a little to allow the groping hand to open his robes and grasp the veined column thus revealed. Severus sagged a little against the wall as his cock was firmly clasped and wanked. For a moment he gave himself up to the mindless pleasure of that experienced hand, but he wanted more.

“Wait!” he groaned. Lupin went rigid against him, breathing heavily, but seemed to soften and tremble as Severus fumbled with his Muggle trousers until they tumbled to his knees. Taking a firm grip Severus moved his hand up and down, and suddenly they were moving together, both sets of hands working furiously, Lupin’s mouth ravaging Severus’ with licks and bites and greedy tongue.

Lupin’s bare buttocks flexed as he drove his groin deeper into Severus’ greedy palms. There was a flash of fire along Severus’ spine as he arched into Lupin’s large, calloused hands and jets of cum shot out between them, and then Lupin was spasming into Severus’ grasp, his head falling onto one black-clad shoulder as his body shook and juddered its release against Severus’ belly.

For a long moment they stayed like that, their breathing slowing, their hands dropping to rest on convenient hips and thighs. Severus felt as if his brains had spurted out with his cum, fuzzy and lightheaded. His mouth was full of the taste of Lupin, and his body was a sea of sated pleasure.

Lupin pressed a rueful forehead hard into Severus’ collarbone before straightening up, pausing to lick gently across Severus’ bitten lips before ascending to his full height.

“I didn’t actually mean, this soon... but we’re good together, aren’t we?” he said incoherently.

Severus glared at him. “Pull up your pants and get out,” he said, but his voice did not hold the venom that it once had, and Lupin didn’t seem daunted. He tugged at his corduroys, pulling out his wand from a side pocket to clean himself up. “Lucky I didn’t blow off a buttock,” he muttered with a grin. Severus checked an impulse to smile back, turning his head instead to carefully examine his own clothes as he cleaned them. Satisfuied, he strode to the door, opening it wide for Lupin to leave.

“Out.”

“Thank you for your generous hospitality, Severus,” the other man replied politely, the puffy redness of his mouth radiating smugness. He stopped at the door and pressed a hasty kiss to Severus’ cheek before slipping out into the corridor. Severus sniffed resentfully, but when he fell asleep that night his hand was cupped around that cheek. A handjob was a handjob, after all, but a kiss on the cheek was... something different.

* * *

 

Severus wasn’t altogether surprised when Lupin knocked on his door the following night. However unorthodox this... courtship... was, it was undeniably under considerable time pressure. As he wanked that morning in the shower, he had wondered why he was even considering a bizarre notion that had never even crossed the horizon of possibility a week ago. For, undeniably, he was considering it.

Severus Snape was seriously considering bonding with a werewolf in order to have joint custody of that werewolf’s infant son. A son who was cousin to Sirius Black. A son who was godson to James Potter’s son.

When he put it in those terms he could not understand why the notion was so persistent. But his mind slipped easily into the memory of how right Lupin had felt pressed close against him, how he had groaned into Severus’ shoulder as he came in his hands. How swollen his lips had been as he left that soft, chaste kiss on Severus’ cheek.

Severus had come hard and fast at the memories, and then rested against the wall under the warm spray as his cum washed away, wondering what it would be like to have Remus Lupin in a bed.

All day the memories of that brief encounter against the wall haunted him, as benign, sensual flashbacks. He wanked twice in the loo, like a sixteen-year-old, recalling Remus’ scent, his hands, the feel of his eager cock. Knowing that Remus wasn’t finished with him yet.

He opened his door with a mixture of anticipation and annoyance. Remus had brought wine.

“What, no flowers?” Severus mocked.

“I don’t want thorns in the bed.”

Severus blinked. Apparently Carruthers hadn’t mentioned the half of it. “Carruthers said you were an ‘irredeemable top’,” he murmured bemusedly.

“You checked?” Remus began to chuckle. “Yes; that was a bone of contention between us, but he described you as having ‘a greedy arse’, so I didn’t think it would be a problem between us.”

Severus narrowed his eyes. “Come on then,” he said. “The bedroom’s this way.”

* * *

 

One good thing about house-elves: the sheets were always clean. As Severus groaned under Lupin’s expert attentions his sheets smelled, as always, of lavender. It was oldfashioned, but he loved the smell. His mother had always dried her sheets over the lavender bushes in their tiny yard. Tonight, however, the scent of lavender was overlain with the scents Severus had come to associate with Lupin: burgundy, ink, dusty books and an orange top note that Severus knew meant that Lupin had washed his hair earlier in the day. And desire. Severus could definitely smell desire.

Lupin’s hands were actually trembling as he peeled Severus’ shirt and trousers off. Perhaps he was just scared that he might muck this seduction up and lose his chance at persuading Severus to marry him. Perhaps.

But as he looked at Lupin’s dilated pupils Severus knew that he was truly desired. Lupin wasn’t a Slytherin. Severus knew of half a dozen potions that would counterfeit the symptoms of desire the werewolf was showing, but he also knew, deep in his bones, that Lupin had used none of them; he was trembling with the sheer anticipation of fucking Severus, and Severus felt himself responding to that purity of feeling. As Lupin’s large hands slipped reverently over the planes of his body, Severus arched into them, and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and a muttered curse.

“Fuck, Severus. You’re so...” Apparently bereft of words, Lupin bent to trace the line of Severus’ collarbone with his tongue. His hands slid naturally to anchor Severus’ hips as he traced a trail which stopped briefly to toy with each nipple before following the midline down the chest to the treasure at the end of the trail. Hot breath surrounded Severus’ aching cock, teasing it until Lupin’s full, sensuous lips closed around the head. Severus let his hands fall into the rich warmth of Remus’ hair, twining his fingers in its softness and then clutching it as Lupin used all his skill and attention to please Severus.

“Don’t!” Severus groaned, and Lupin immediately stopped. He rested his head on Severus’ pale thigh, gasping “Don’t what?”

“Don’t finish me. I want to come with you inside.” Severus rolled over, positioning himself on his hands and knees as he preferred.

Both men groaned as Lupin’s oiled brown fingers slipped, one by one, into Severus’ long-neglected arse. Severus was shivering as finally Lupin withdrew his fingers to replace them with the solid length of his cock. One long, relentless glide was enough to fill him. Severus wondered how he had lived for so long without this. Perhaps anyone would do. Perhaps he was being foolish in attributing his wonder to Lupin, rather than to long abstinence. But... oh God... Lupin was moving, and all coherent thought fled in the face of the joy that Severus felt as he was as thoroughly pleasured as any man could ever have been.

As Lupin’s hips began to lose their rhythm in preparation for their final assault upon his arse, Severus reached a hand down to tug on his cock. Once, twice, and he was stuttering come into his abused sheets, and then Lupin was whimpering in his ear, his hipbones cushioned by Severus’ crushed buttocks as he filled Severus’ parched channel with his warm seed.

They fell sideways, still joined, Lupin’s arms coiling possessively over his smaller bedmate as they lay spooned together, their breathing slowing until silence replaced the sounds of uninhibited fucking.

“Are you going to marry me, Severus?” Lupin said softly into the silence, and Severus answered, as he had known he inevitably would, “Very well, Lupin. You fuck like an angel and I’ll marry you.”

He wished he could see Lupin’s face. The werewolf’s arms clutched him closer and Severus felt him gulp before saying huskily into his hair, “Thankyou Severus. Thankyou. You’ll never have cause to regret it, I promise.”


	4. Coda - Was it well done?

Years later, Severus would wonder how he had found the courage to take that leap into the unknown with the last of his boyhood rivals. Had it been Carruthers’ encouragement, that unexpected friendly push from a man he hadn’t seen for twenty years? Had it been Remus’ undeniable skill in bed, or the desperation in his eyes as he courted Severus’ scorn? Had there been an element of sadism in the anticipated pleasure of pissing off Harry and striking Minerva speechless? Or the simple pleasure of knowing that he was thoroughly confounding everyone’s expectations?

He was just glad that he had done it.

Harry might have paid for the lawyers, and Hermione and Luna might have orchestrated the publicity to draw sympathy for Remus’ plight; Minerva might have stood staunchly by her DADA teacher and Ernest Sutton have saved his legal bacon, but Severus was the one Remus credited with saving his family, and Severus was the one who slept every night in his king-sized bed with his devoted husband.

Severus was the one living happily ever after.

And it was surprisingly satisfying to raise a son, too. Even if he did turn out to be a Ravenclaw.

 _finis_


End file.
